Iraqi premier calls on US to halt construction of Baghdad wall

Iraq's premier, Nouri al-Maliki, yesterday called for a halt to the US military's construction of a three-mile wall in Baghdad separating Sunni and Shia Muslims.

Speaking in Egypt, he said: "I asked yesterday that it be stopped and that alternatives be found to protect the area ... I fear this wall might have repercussions which remind us of other walls, which we reject," he added, referring to misgivings that the wall would take on the symbolic status of similar barriers in Northern Ireland and the West Bank.

Dubbed the Great Wall of Adhamiya by the US soldiers who started building the 4m (12ft) barrier in 6 tonne sections under cover of darkness on April 10, it is designed to protect a mainly Sunni area in eastern Baghdad surrounded on three sides by Shia communities. US military authorities said it would create one of several "gated communities".

But Iraqis said they had not been consulted and the wall would exacerbate divisions between the communities.

"Isolating parts of Baghdad with barbed wire and concrete barriers will lead to more sectarian tension," the Sunni Iraqi Islamic Party said in a statement. "Dividing the capital in this way will be the starting point for dividing Iraq."

US authorities offered no reaction last night. Mr Maliki's comments are the latest sign of tension between the Iraqi government and White House over strategies for securing the capital. In October he ordered the removal of roadblocks round Sadr City. US regional allies including Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan are said to be backing moves for an Iraqi national unity government led by former premier Ayad Allawi.